I’m a true believer that your night routine has the power to either set you up for success, but equally set you up for failure before the day has even started…

Making sure you have an intentional night routine where you prep yourself and your environment for the next day, can really make ALL the difference.

Do you have a night routine in place?

And no, I’m not only talking about those 15 mins before bed, where you charge your phone, brush your teeth, make a bun, put on your pajamas, and jump into bed.

I mean, after your workday, do you have certain habits (good ones as well as bad ones) that you tend to do every night?

Do you have the habit of late night snacking while benching Netflix?

Do you have the habit of going to bed way too late and feeling super tired the next day?

Do you have the habit of doing a quick clean up of your house before going to bed?

Or do you have the habit of leaving your dinner dishes in the sink because you just don’t want to deal with it?

Don’t be too harsh on yourself. It’s OK to have those guilty pleasures, especially if you have had a rough day.

However, if those guilty pleasures are consistently ruining your next day and making it more difficult for you to show up, then it might be important to replace these habits with better ones.

Before we get in to the tips and tricks portion, let’s talk first a little about my night routine:

6 pm – 6:15 pm: creating a to-do list for the next day, quick clean of workspace, charging all devices

6:15 pm – 7:15 pm: I will either do a work-out if I haven’t done one yet in the morning & take a shower, or I will just spend time with my boyfriend.

7:15 pm-7:30 pm: change to comfy clothes, take off my makeup and contact lenses, and do my skincare routine (I feel like this step is super important because my ritual of changing clothes and taking off my make-up, etc. really helps me to transition to my private life, and helps me to stop thinking/talking about work stuff).

7:30 pm-8:00 pm: Boyfriend prepares dinner, while I load out the dishwasher, do a quick clean up of the house, or occasionally, I also meal prep lunch for the next day.

8:00 pm – 9:00 pm: dinner time, while watching an episode of whatever tv show we are watching

9:00 pm – 10:00 pm: quiet time (reading, journaling, meditating) and avoiding being on my phone (especially avoiding any work emails!!)

10:00 pm – 10:15 pm: Taking vitamins if I haven’t yet in the morning, brush my teeth, choosing clothes for the next day

10:15 pm: Bed time

I’m not a night owl at all, so I tend to sleep quite early and have a good night sleep so I can wake up bright & early the next morning.

For the ones of you interested, I also have an in-depth blog post about my morning routine, you can read it HERE.

That all being said, here are 6 essential tips to build your own night routine that doesn’t sabotage your next day.

Other Reads:

• How To Organize Your Whole Business In One Single Notebook
• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• My Monthly Reset Routine
• Losing Motivation? 7 Bullet-Proof Ways To Regain Your Passion And Stay Motivated In Your Business
• How To Set Healthy Boundaries As A Solopreneur
• How I Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed As A Solopreneur: 3 Simple Steps

1. Identify your patterns

So in the first step, I want you to think about which are the things that you tend to do on a regular basis during the night. Don’t label it as good or bad, just identify them and make a list of all the ones you can come up with.

Here are some questions that can help you with brainstorming about what your typical night routine looks like:

• What is the first thing you do when turning off your computer and giving it a day?
• What are your dinner habits? Do you feel like your dinners are nutritious and give you energy? Do you tend to eat at a dinner table, while talking with your family? Or do you tend to eat on the couch while watching Netflix? Do you tend to snack late at night?
• Do you do any form of self-care during the night? What does that look like?
• Do you tend to spend time on your phone at night?
• Do you move your body during the evenings/at night?
• Do you prepare the next day in any kind of way? Such as preparing a to-do list, choosing your outfit for the next day, already making your gym bag, meal prepping,…
• At what time do you go to sleep?
• …

2. Identify what works

Go over your list of the last step and identify which ones really work for you. What are these habits that you already do on a daily basis that make you feel great, relaxed, prepared, and well-rested?

Maybe you make overnight oats every night, so you can quickly grab them out of the fridge every morning and enjoy a delicious breakfast.

Maybe you love taking a long shower or taking a bubble bath.

Or maybe you just love turning off your phone and just genuinely being present with your loved ones.

Whatever those activities are for you, make sure to make time for them during your night, since they make you feel great.

3. Identify what doesn’t work in your night routine

What are those things that you do at night, that you tend to regret the day after?

I’m not talking about that piece of chocolate that you like to eat as a dessert or that glass of wine that you love to drink after a rough day, I’m talking about those things that really sabotage your next day, like leaving your house so messy that you need a 1-hour-cleaning session before you can actually start with your daily to-do list. Or those late-night coffees or sodas that keep you awake at night.

I’m sure you can immediately come up with some of these right in this very second (wink wink 😉 ).

4. What are good habits in your night routine that could replace the ‘bad ones’

Sometimes just changing up little things can make all the difference…

For example, preparing some carrot and cucumber sticks that you can dip into hummus can help a lot with avoiding grabbing that bag of potato chips as a late-night snack.

Or taking that fancy Gin Tonic glass, and pouring water into it with a piece of cucumber, can definitely help you with increasing your water intake.

So, try to think about creative ways to replace some of your “bad’ night habits with better ones.

5. Think about things you can do in your night routine that make the next morning easier

What can you do the night before to make the next morning a hell of a lot smoother and easier?

And try to implement these tiny things into a quick 15-minute routine that you do right before going to bed.

A few examples:

• choosing your clothes for the next day (including jewelry, shoes, everything).
• Making your to-do list for the next day.
• Prepping my workspace
• Quick house clean-up.
• Charging all your devices
• Getting your coffee machine ready so you literarily have to press one single button

Maybe, it’s my perfectionism, but if I wake up and everything goes so smoothly and easily, I feel immediately motivated and inspired to get things done.

Especially, when you aren’t a morning person and have difficulties with getting out of bed in the morning, I would totally recommend this.

6. Don’t be too harsh on yourself

Yes, it’s important to become aware of the ways we are self-sabotaging ourselves and unconsciously making it extremely difficult for us to wake up fresh and well-rested and have a productive day.

However, this doesn’t mean that you need to have a super strict and rigid evening routine where literarily every second is planned.

No, your evening and night should be all about releasing your stress, recharging, being with your loved ones, and coming back to your authentic self.

Your days are probably already extremely planned and structured, so the last thing I want you to do is also plan out your whole night to the details.

I just want you to think about ways that you can add or remove little things that you are currently doing, so you can avoid self-sabotaging yourself and set yourself up for success the next day.

Other Reads:

• How To Organize Your Whole Business In One Single Notebook
• Overcoming Perfectionism: 7 Steps to Silence Your Inner Perfectionist
• My Monthly Reset Routine
• Losing Motivation? 7 Bullet-Proof Ways To Regain Your Passion And Stay Motivated In Your Business
• How To Set Healthy Boundaries As A Solopreneur
• How I Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed As A Solopreneur: 3 Simple Steps

That rounds up my 6 tips for building a night routine that sets you up for success!

Let’s Chat!

Do you have a night routine? What does it look like?